


Invasion!

by Ghost0



Series: The Boys Are Back [2]
Category: DCU (Comics), The Boys (TV 2019)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:49:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27035212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghost0/pseuds/Ghost0
Summary: Lamplighter goes on a little drive with Frenchie and MM. While that happens, Ryan is targeted and almost kidnapped. Team Alpha are back in D.C. just in time for them to fight off an attack, which they fend off with the help of new yet familiar allies. Homelander and Stormfront get drafted
Series: The Boys Are Back [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1971640
Comments: 4
Kudos: 6





	Invasion!

Lamplighter opened his eyes to find his hands and feet bound. Getting up, he looked around and saw he was in a van. Turning to look towards the front, he began yelling. “What the fuck do you think you assholes are doing? I will burn you alive for this!”

Frenchie looked up in the rearview mirror, meeting Lamplighter’s eyes. He recognized the driver who stared back at him. Reaching one hand to his pocket, he pulled out the Supe’s lighter. “How are you going to do that with your toy all the way over here?” Frenchie put the lighter back in his pocket.

“It took you a few years, but I guess you finally got to me, didn’t you?” He found a place to sit in the back of the van, straightening up. He looked over to the man in the passenger seat. “Shit, you too? I guess this is one big happy reunion.” MM turned around to look at the man in the back. Staring right back, he leaned forward. “What exactly is going on here?”

MM shook his head. “I’m the wrong man to ask. This is all his idea.” He pointed to Frenchie, who kept his eyes glued on the road. For a few moments, no one said anything. The man in the back was in thought, thinking things over in his head. Slowly exhaling, he brought his eyes up to look at Frenchie through the rearview mirror. 

“It’s about them.” He wasn’t asking. He had figured out exactly why this was happening to him. Especially with these ones behind the event.

“Of fucking course it is.” Frenchie shot back at him. “You burned them until there was nothing left!” 

Lamplighter held his gaze at Frenchie. “I could feel you following me you know. That night, I saw you looking at me from across the street when I made my mandatory party appearance. But then you vanished. Where the fuck were you? Why didn’t you try to stop me?” Frenchie started to turn around and try to get at him, but MM reached and put an arm on him, getting him back on the wheel and steady the vehicle. 

“Enough of this shit!” MM yelled out. “You, shut up!” He pointed to the tied up Supe. He brought his eyes back to the road, leaning back and mindlessly staring at the road in front of him. Frenchie seemed to get calm, or at the very least quiet. Part of MM wanted to repeat the question just asked to Frenchie. He remembered that night, Mallory tasking him with tailing Lamplighter that night. But he didn’t want to say anything right now. Just watch the road go on, the trees appearing more and more frequently. Before they knew it, half an hour had passed and no one had said a word. But something was wearing down on Frenchie, finally getting him to admit something out loud.

“I left for a friend.” MM turned his head to look at him. “I got a call, he had overdosed and needed my help. I wasn’t gone that long, just rushed right there and got to him.”

“Did he make it?” MM asked.

Frenchie nodded his head. “Oui. But I was gone long enough for shit to happen. Then we immediately went underground for months. He ended up overdosing again, but I wasn’t there that time.” Frenchie kept looking out the window. MM wasn’t quite sure how to respond. A few more minutes passed with nothing being said among the three. But then the Supe felt it was his time to confess something.

“I was there to kill her.” Lamplighter said. “I just saw that someone was under the bed sheets and I let loose. By the time I realized…it was too late.” He looked down at the ground. No tears were coming from his eyes, but they still showed the weight that had been on his shoulders ever since that night. “Every night, I hear their screams. I haven’t gotten more than a few hours of sleep every night since then. They kept me on for a little bit after that. But I got placed at that facility, burning up proof of Vought’s side project.” He leaned back, resting his head against the wall of the van. “When all the shit went down with Homelander at the capital, and when the government finally found out about that place, I thought that this had to count to something. To show that…I still had something left in me worth…fuck, I don’t know anymore.” He closed his eyes, feeling the ground underneath them every time they hit a bump or went over a hole. They kept travelling, heading towards a destination only Frenchie knew. But what would happen once they got there, Frenchie was still debating on what should happen.

******

Rebecca closed the front door behind her. She walked past the kitchen, tapping on the glass door to catch Ryan’s attention, who was doing homework on the laptop outside. He looked up, smiled and waved. Smiling back, she went back into the kitchen. Billy must be somewhere upstairs, hopefully getting some sleep after the week he had put in. She looked through her fridge, wondering if there was anything that could let her make something good or just say fuck it and order in again. Ryan returned to working on his homework. He was homeschooled but he hopes that one day he can actually go to a regular school. He has gone out in public and meet some of the other kids in the neighborhood, but has never actually been in a classroom.

Thoughts about school got interrupted when he heard an odd noise coming from the woods on the other side of their backyard fence. It stopped very shortly after it had started, but his sense could pick up on something moving behind the fence. He stood up and moved forward a bit. He tried to listen more, thinking it had to be something like a bear or a walk or something. While he was right about it being some kind of large predator, he was completely off on the species. 

A huge creature tore through the wooden fence. It hissed and cried out loud. Ryan fell backwards when he first saw it. It used its wings to get to him quickly, grabbing him and trying to take him. But Ryan fought back, punching him in the face. Not controlling his strength, it did actually manage to knock the creature off guard and let go. Ryan quickly stood up. “Mom! Billy” He started towards the door, but turned around to try and keep an eye on the thing. It hissed again, regaining composure and trying to grab onto him again. Ryan felt afraid but somehow used that to make his eyes glow dark red and shoot from his eyes at the strange monster. It lasted a few seconds, but when it was gone, Ryan saw what was left. It was burned, but still somewhat recognizable. Enough to confirm that he did get it. The back door opened and Rebecca hugged Ryan. 

“What happened? Are you hurt?” She got down and examined Ryan. Afterwards, she turned her head towards the burning body in the yard. She just looked in awe, with a touch of hatred. It was strange and bizarre, but had no admiration for whatever this thing was.

“I’m fine. R-really.” He was still a little scared by what had just happened. But it got worse when he heard another cry from the woods, just like the one from the monster he had just incinerated. Rebecca grabbed Ryan and pulled him with her. The creature came out of the woods, flying several feet off the ground and heading straight for them. But when it got halfway across the yard, it got hit by a bullet right through its neck. It crashed on the ground, still alive but injured enough where it wasn’t moving right away. From the house stepped out Billy Butcher, holding a twelve-gauge shotgun in both of his hands. He calmly walked towards the predator, his gun aiming right for the head. It looked up at the man who had shot him, snarling as best as it could at him. One more shot at point blank range did the trick, killing the second monster. Billy turned around and looked at Rebecca and Ryan.

“Fuck me. Wish I could do that.” He pointed to the body that Ryan had burned up. “It would say me a pretty penny when it comes to buying more rounds.” Lowering the gun, he walked towards the burned body, looking it over. 

“What are those things?” Ryan asked.

“They ain’t natural kid, I can tell you that much.” Billy softly spoke. He then turned to look up at Rebecca. “I think Hughie is back from the other side of the pond. I’ll give him a call, see if he knows a thing or two about our Jiminy Cricket buddies here.”

Rebecca nodded. “Yea. But we can’t stay here. We should get a motel for the next little while. Ryan, go upstairs and pack some stuff.” She patted him on the back, letting him go inside and upstairs. Billy raised an eyebrow at her.

“Are you serious? You think this is Vought trying to reclaim-?”

“I don’t know what this is. But we can’t stay here.” Rebecca responded. “I…have this feeling that they came here specifically for Ryan.”

“Are you sure about that?” Billy asked her. “Other than the boys and us, no one else knows about Ryan. Well, those cunts that used to run Vought do but I think they have enough on their plate with the upcoming trial and everything.”

Rebecca nodded her head. “Can’t take the risk. At least until we know for sure and it’s stopped.” Billy looked right into her eyes. He nodded, her conviction being enough for him. She went back inside to get a few things ready. He turned to look at the two strange creatures, now lying dead in the backyard. Without another word, he went back in the house, making sure they have enough supplies and weapons.

******

“Fuck! Why can’t we go back to our apartment?” Hughie asked Annie, as they walked onto the grass outside Congress. 

“Quit whining. Director Lee wants us to do a bunch of photos for the website.” Annie walked beside as they walked to meet the others. “You got to relax on the plane ride back here.”

“Correction. I got to get caught up on a bunch of work on the trip back here. Now I just want to go home and fall asleep. I swear, this is stressful and tiring.” As soon as he said that, he locked eyes with Kimiko. “Sorry Kimiko. I know you have…clearly, you been through a lot…you know what, let’s just leave it at sorry. I think that covers it.” Kimiko raised a middle finger at him. But she paired it with a friendly smirk before lightly punching him in the shoulder. Well, lightly for her anyway. Still some strength in it, which got Hughie to grunt a bit. Maeve had no noticeable reaction to this. 

“All right, let’s get this over with. Has Lee talked to you two?” Maeve looked at Annie and Kimiko. Annie straightened up and cleared her throat. 

“Yes he has. It does feel like a shitty thing to do.”

“Right?” Maeve said. “Look, I probably did get a little too aggressive. But he shouldn’t have to ground you two over my judgement.”

Hughie decided to speak up. “I mean, I kind of get it.” Maeve shot him a look, which instantly got him to scramble. Well, if his goal is to teach you about the value of working with a team…then maybe it helps give you a common enemy. No, he isn’t an enemy, he’s our boss. All though I guess that is a kind of enemy…” Maeve continued to stare at Hughie. “Or maybe it’s about learning how to communicate…let’s say there is something wrong with your personal life or with another teammate’s that could affect the job. Talking about it probably could help and prevent a controversy from maybe happening.” Maeve raised an eyebrow at him, getting him to scramble some more. “Not that I think there is anything wrong going in your personal life. Just a hypothesis – no, a hypothetical, like- “

“Hughie, I love you, but you need to stop.” Annie rubbed his back as she looked at him, getting him to calm down. “She will snap you like a twig.” Hughie gave a small laugh at that as he looked downward.

“I can and probably will.” Maeve confirmed, getting him to look up and realize how serious she was. Kimiko, smiled and shook her head, amused by his rambling. Maeve noticed a few people passing by that were starting to notice them. A couple of them started to move towards them, but were held back by the rest of the group. They settled for taking photos from a distance. Maeve remembered back when fans would practically hound them to death for a selfie or an autograph. But after what went down several months ago, she doesn’t blame them for wanting to keep their distance. Not even really surprised that everyone seems to have less interest in superheroes anymore, apart from the updates regarding the upcoming Vogelbaum/Vought trial. She brought her focus back to the people closest to her. “I think the professional photographers are supposed to take our pictures on the steps when they get here. Hoonestly I’m surprised we are doing this now considering you don’t even have an outfit.” She looked at Kimiko, who turned her head downward to look at her casual jeans and hoodie outfit. She made a look that showed her confusion at why something like that would matter.

“We are working on that. That came up in a meeting.” Hughie nodded. “But it’s fine. If it allows her to do her job, they aren’t too concerned about it.” Annie nodded in agreement. “But we can move closer if that’s what everyone prefers.” They all turned and started to walk towards the building, but stopped when they heard the sound.

A loud bombastic BOOM caused everyone to turn their head and look up. A large circle, forming the beginning of what appeared to be a tunnel. Or, more accurately, the end of a tunnel. From it came forth a swarm of monsters, flying all round, hissing and crying out loud in anger and fury. Starlight began blasting as many as she could, which kept them at bay for the most part. Kimiko actually departed from the group, getting a few that landed and started ripping into them. Maeve moved quickly, punching through the unidentified creatures as quickly as she could. She looked around her, noticing just how many had come out, and how many people they were going after. There was no MO, no strategy. Just seek and destroy. They tore through people like they were nothing. Hughie hung on by being near Annie and actually using a handgun that had been issued to him but never used until now. Maeve maneuvered around some of these creatures, trying to intercept the ones going after some of the people. She yelled at them to move and seek shelter. But her efforts kept being interrupted as they started to target her. She fought back as hard as she could. Looking outward, she saw them start to swarm and close in on the others. 

But any fear that might have started to take shape in her heart quickly turned to confusion. Shadows lifted off the ground and swirled in the air, coming together. It took on the shape of a giant dark bird, looking down at the monsters, most of whom took notice of this thing. It turned into many smaller dark birds, attacking and destroying as many of them as they could reach. It helped distract the others that were closing in on Team Alpha plus Hughie. Maeve got the advantage again, turning the tide against those closest to her. 

Kimiko got on top of one and tore it’s throat out. Quickly turning around to attacking more that tried to avoid all the flying birds around them. A few of these creatures started to come after her, but were immediately burned by red lasers coming from above. Looking up, she saw a green man in a blue cape flying downwards. Well, he was at first a man, but then he turned into some sort of large reptilian creature, catching many of these things in his mouth and ripping them apart. Hughie had to stop and look up at what was happening. “And just when I thought shit couldn’t get weirder.” Annie took a break from firing blasts and looked up at the giant green thing. She was confused, but mostly in awe. Especially when she saw it shrink and change its form into that of a green man. Without realizing it at first, all the things that had appeared were now gone. Bodies were spread out all over, both the creatures and unfortunately regular people. 

The team got together, looking at the green man in front of them. Beside him, all the black birds came back and formed one shadowy shape. It moved and changed until standing in its place was a young girl, dressed head to toe in dark blue with a hood over her head. Couldn’t be more than sixteen from what Hughie could tell from looking at her. Maeve stepped forward. “All right, not that I’m not happy you helped, but who the fuck are you? And do you know anything about what just happened here?”

“My name is J’onn J’onzz.” His voice was deep and very calm, almost soothing in a way. “You have met some of my friends and allies recently, when they were on your world for a brief time.”

“Shit, are you friends with Batman, Diana, and Superman?” Annie looked at the green man in surprise. That seemed to get the rest of them a little more relaxed around these strangers in front of them.

“That’s not important.” The teenage girl spoke up. Her voice wasn’t exactly monotone, but aside from a vague sense of assertiveness there wasn’t any distinct quality to it. “We’re here to help you prepare for what is to come.”

******

They were parked on a dirt road, a bit away from the main road they had been travelling down. MM took off just inside the woods, making a call back home to check in and let his family know that he is fine and just out with a friend. Lamplighter still had his hands bound, sitting in the back of the van with the doors open. Frenchie was looking at the ground, picking it up when he heard the other car approach them. Pulling up to a stop, Grace Mallory came out of the car and started walking. Frenchie tried to speak up, intercepting her. 

“Mallory.” Frenchie felt his chest tighten a bit, a pit form in his stomach. “I…know I wasn’t allowed to go to their funeral. But I wanted to…let you know how much I regret what happened.” Grace said nothing to Frenchie, just stared right at him. Nothing happened for a moment, but then she walked past him and stood several feet away from the man that she had wanted to get her hands on for a long time.

He picked his head up to look at her. There was no doubt in his mind what was about to happen, so he figured he would at least say something that had some truth behind it. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry.” Mallory simply repeated the word. “Two dead children and all you can say about it is sorry.” 

“There isn’t anything that I can say that can make up for that, I fucking know that.” Lamplighter said. “I never forgot what happened. It has stuck with me, weighed down on me ever since. I would take it back if I could, if for no other reason than to get rid of this guilt.” The weight that Lamplighter was referring to could be seen in his eyes. Looking closely, one could see the years of lost sleep in and around his eyes, the guilt of his dark and unforgivable act never letting him have a moment of true peace. Mallory said nothing, moving one hand to her side and pulled out her handgun, pointing the barrel straight at his head. Frenchie moved towards them, getting to Mallory’s side.

“Mallory, don’t do this. All it would do is end his suffering.” Frenchie quickly looked over at Lamplighter. “Believe me, there is no punishment you can give him that is worse than the one he gives himself.” Frenchie slowly exhaled, keeping his eyes on Mallory. All she did was continued to stare at the tired Supe in the van, her face fighting to remain as firm and neutral as possible. But the eyes don’t lie, they struggle to release tears but Mallory was using her focus to not show that kind of emotion in front of the murderer of her grandchildren.

“What the Hell am I supposed to do?” Mallory asked out loud. Frenchie unfortunately couldn’t come up with anything that would have any sense of satisfaction. There wasn’t anything that could be said or done that could do that. Maybe killing him might seem like that, but Mallory knew it would be fleeting at best. Yet she is still on the edge of pulling the trigger. 

But MM coming back out from the trees and hanging up his phone seemed to prevent that from happening. He looked to see Mallory holding a gun at the Supe in the back. He could see what Frenchie was trying to do, and called out to them. “Please don’t kill him! You have any idea what a bitch it is to get blood washed out of a van?” He walked towards them, looking between all three of them to see what would happen next. Slowly, Grace lowered her gun, turning her head away from Lamplighter and focused squarely on MM. Cracking one of his knuckles, he continued to speak. “Just got a call from Hughie. Turns out we missed a fuck ton of action.”

“What do you mean?” Frenchie turned to ask him.

MM looked around his friend to the Supe in the back. “Hey Burning Man. Are you serious? You really want to try and do something that isn’t completely shitty?” Lamplighter confusingly nodded in response. MM looked him over for a quick second. Then he addressed the others. “Sounds like he just might get the chance to do that. And looks like we are coming along for the ride.” Before either of them could ask what he was talking about, a large dark spot appeared beneath them. It grew larger into it was completely underneath them and the van with Lamplighter. It reached up to encompass all of them, turning and shrinking until they weren’t there anymore.

******

Prisoners from other cells yelled out, talking to each other. It didn’t matter if it was exchanging jokes or insults, the man once known as Homelander wasn’t really paying attention. He looked at himself in a small mirror that he managed to swipe from one of the other inmates. He had planned on using it as a shiv, but right now was examining the black eye on his face. He had never had one before, and one thing he learned quickly was that they fucking hurt. He glared at the small mirror in his hand, controlling his anger and breathing. He looked up and out, trying to see if the guard had already passed up. He started to work on trying to make it into something he could use to retaliate.

But then a BOOM happened and a strange vortex appeared in his cell. Startled, he looked up in shock. Some of the prisoners from across the hall noticed and started to draw attention to what was going on. A few of the guards picked up that something was happening and started to rush down to the source of the commotion. As they tried to rush, two strange creatures reached out and grabbed onto both of Homelander’s arms, dragging him into the vortex with them. The guards managed to see the vortex itself, but it quickly vanished from sight. A few of them rushed to alert the warden what had happened while the rest tried to calm all the other prisoners down.

Homelander came out on the other side, but forced to move forward by these things, trying to twist his body around and break free from their grip. One of them hissed at him, which caused someone he couldn’t see to speak up. “You will not hurt him. He wants him alive.” This seemed to get the thing to turn back around and force him to move forward.

“Let me go you fucking shits!” Homelander turned to see Stormfront, in a similar prison get up to his, being forced to move alongside him. She turned to see Homelander, her anger seemingly disappeared and simply became confusion. “Homelander? What the fuck is going on?” He didn’t even have a chance to say he doesn’t fucking know before they forced them onto two separate operating tables, tightening the straps on their arms and legs.

“Easy there, fellas. Don’t want me to file a complaint.” Homelander snarked. Once they made sure both of them were secure, they left the two on the tables. He tried to turn his head around to see where exactly they were. It was fairly dark, but could still see for the most part. A bunch of tools and weapons all over the walls and shelves, some of them showing the blood stains of other people on them. They both turned and tried to look up as they heard a man walked out from the shadows and stood between them at their feet. He had a hooded cloak on, but they could still see how pale and skeletal his face looked. 

“Look at you two…do you realize how lucky you are to be here? To be in this room?” He had a devilish smile on his face. His voice showed that he was collected, fully prepared for this. Whatever this was.

“Yea, how about you let me go and I can show just how fucking grateful I am?” Stormfront sneered at him. He just shook his head and turned, moving a few steps to the side to pull forward a tray full of tools.

“I expected resistances and struggle. Arrogance is a trait that is ingrained in both of you.” He slowly picked up a blade that could be best described as a sickle. But not like anything that either of them have seen before. “But that won’t be an issue after this is done.”

“Listen buddy, not quite sure what all of…this is.” Homelander moved his fingers around to point to the various weapons and tools and to the tables they were strapped to. “But I don’t think there is anything you can do to us that can break us. Sure, not exactly super anymore, but I’d like to think our stubbornness makes up for it.”

The man turned to face the two of them. “You will suffer. Pain shall be inflicted, pain unlike anything you have ever known and experience. You will cry out in anguish and agony every second.” He gave a twisted smile as he moved forward, getting in between them to be closer to their faces as he addressed them. “But after it passes, you will have everything that has been taken from you. Be given the chance to exact vengeance on those that have wronged you. All that is asked of you for this is your eternal service and thanks to the one who has allowed you to be given this great opportunity…our dark lord and ruler, Darkseid.” And then Desaad began to experiment on them, their cries of pain filling the room reaching out into the hallway. But they were drowned out by the other cries and noises that were all going on the dark planet Apokolips.


End file.
